Truthfully, I’ve been concerned about the sustainability of life since I was a kid.

In the early 90’s I was living on a hill, in an ex military vehicle I called home, using a small windmill to power the lights and stuff. I’d spent the previous ten years or so living ‘on the road’ searching for an alternative way to live. I was what the media would call a ‘new age traveller’.

That’s when I was inspired to ‘drop in’ and promote the use of large-scale wind energy – to bring change to the electricity industry. That was the start of this long journey.

The idea for Ecotricity – of selling green electricity to people, came about a few years later – it was about getting a fair price for wind power, to enable more to be built. And so Ecotricity started in 1995. Green electricity was a totally new idea back then. It just didn’t exist, as a choice, before Ecotricity.

I built my first windmill in 96 after a five year battle with all comers – NIMBY’s, bigots, planners, big power companies, you name it – and went to Kyoto in 97. The rest is just more history.

I’m after change, by empowering people to bring it about themselves. The idea for example, that you can fight Climate Change with your electricity bill, use your need for electricity to bring about new clean sources of it – sustainable ones.

It’s not such a novel idea these days – that we can influence the way the world works, through the way we spend our money. Fairtrade is a great recent example.

So that’s it really, I’m a hippie, I run a business (a social enterprise) to bring change to the world. My interest is the next Industrial Revolution, how to live without burning up the planet.

266 responses to “About me”

Yeah! Good for you! (from one modern hippy to another) We need more people like you.
I have just signed up to Ecotricity today after seeing a link on NigelsEcoStore.co.uk. It took me all of about 3 minutes! Couldn’t be easier. Thanks.
I’ve got to pay Npower for my previous electr. bill- £247.45, a bill I don’t enjoy paying. Now I reckon, it will actually make a small difference paying this bill and will not mind less paying my bill, win,win all round. I don’t even mind if Ecotricity will cost me slightly more (i don’t know this yet, time will tell)
I hope your customer service is such that it continues to remind me that I have made a good choice, and appreciates me for making a green choice, the little things help!
Jelle

Hi Dale,
Why isn’t Ecotricity a member of the newly established Electricity Networks Strategy Group that has been stablished to create a grand vision for our Smart Grid? I am concerned that without proper representation, we will end up with a grid designed by EdF, instead of the one that we need for Wind and renewables.
Any insights (that you can share)?
Best,
Kayla

Oh dear Jelle ! – you haven’t ! – not signed-up for “ecotricity” ?
Please read the copy of a letter of mine on “Copenhagen here we come” It is Very serious, the geist of it is that Wind energy Has Helped – in the past – but that gigantic punk haircuts on sticks, do not. This is a fact, not merely the opinion of a guy who has spent the last 20 years achieving a wind-energy system that actually pays for ITSELF !! – within about 20 years, many sites, and muck less on the west coast of uk. You are, however unwhittingly, and with the best of intent I am sure, helping robbers wreck this Earth. That’s serious.

I am a Spanish boy of 15 who is doing work on fuels of the future in a program of the foundation and that St. Patrick picked as the theme for the work eolca energy transferred to the cars.
that’s why I wanted to ask for help if I could send information about this topic because I see you’re the best of it and you have implemented. send me the information to this email dazugaji@gmail.com
thank you very much and I need it.

After all the trouble we went through getting me away from Ecotricity and my bill being quashed… The bills are returning with threats of legal action years late. I am not a customer so i cannot get support from customer services.

The simple issue, it seems, is that you do not wish to pay for the electricity you have used. Your claims of being a victim of some bad practice or other are all false – we’ve bent over backwards to accommodate you, yet you’ve been unwilling to pay the £20 a month we agreed with you and set up three years ago.

You clearly want us to forget the bill but we’re not going to. It’s silly to say our customer services are not open to you (and utterly untrue) – we’re all still here willing to make arrangements to enable you to pay – we’re not willing to let you avoid paying – that would be unfair on all of our other customers, who do pay their bills.

Please call us on 0845 555 7 100 or email home@ecotricity.co.uk rather than posting on here. This is not a customer service platform & you may not get the level of response you would get through our dedicated channels.

I am an ecotricity customer and have always supported the company because ofits values as a green activist l. However when I studied my account I realized that I was being charged for a meter that I do not use and I have found that your customer resolution team can only advise me to go to another company whose contracts do not oblige them to charge me for unused meters.
My bills are high because we have fulltime carers in and therefor to pay additional monies for rent of an unused meter is not fun.
As the owner of Ecotricity pat yourself on the back youseem to have done a great job so far, I hope that you may be interested in the lack of flexability in your billing system in this matter and also take steps to avoid this happening to other people. Cekua

My daughter referred me to this site, of which I am pleased to contribute.
For past 17 years I have been feverishly designing a processes we call The Capybara Process. If you know anything about the Rodent -Capybara you will know why. I have designed a process for ALL wastes to be recycled back to their original building blocks, Plastics and all hydrocarbons back to gas and oil, the by-products of this is a type of Bio-Char which when put the earth forms a carbon Sync (Scientifically Proven) The process required wood and green waste to be blended with the hydrocaobs to produce Bio-Char. All (and I mean ALL) organic matter,can be made into aBionic and Organic soil stimulant which I have proven increases the fertility of the soil from just 45% to over 800% within 28 months. This stimulant alsoincreases yields of foods, fruits etc by a minium of 48% to a max of 800% dependanding on the environmental situation.The process has NO EMISSIONS AT ALL. Even the water extracted is filtered and is drinkable. The process is cheaper than all other so call “Recycling” systems by as much as 80% – yet I have been told by many investors it will not work. Yet the machinery used for this process has been around for over 30 years but not integrated in a format to produce a thoroughly economic and eco friendly system.

The Capybara Process is copyright and produces, Oil to produce power or fuel(s), Bio-Char which can reverse Global warming if it is used in agriculture, A soil Stimulant (1,000% better than a petrochemical fertilizers), fresh water. and ZERO EMISSIONS and ZERO to landfill,. We even offer Perfoamnce Bonds to investors to remove any risks of failure, but as this is a revolutionary process, no=body want to be first. I will not give up even though I have had threats not to install a unit.

Dear Rob,
Sorry if my name isn’t “Dale”, but I guess you would like verifyable facts for your output to the kids on “renewables”, rather than the usual schpiel ?
I can’t claim to actually know what “renewables” are – other than biros ? tyres ? exhausts ? and other things that wear-out and have to be replaced by using energy which usually comes from environmental and atmospheric degradation. “Modern windfarms” are a good example of this, returning, in their entire official 25yr life, enuf energy to build one about 1/3 of the size. But it’s not a problem ! you just subsidize the other 2/3 ? with materials made using coal, oil gas and whatever else – donations, for instance.
This is not to say that “Wind energy is useless”. Far from it, it is simply that placing gigantic punk haircuts on gigantic sticks and calling it “Wind energy” is totally an Art thing and has little to do with physical aquisition of Energy. Energy is Push – or pull of course – times distance pushed or pulled. If you push a barrow with a force of say 5 kgm for a distance od 10 metres you have expended 5 x 9.81 x 10 Joules of your body’s energy. If you are a bit of an athlete, and manage to do this in one second (!!) then you are nearly as Powerful as a horse is supposed to be at 746 watts, compared to your measly 500-odd.
You may like to read the letter I posted on “Copenhagen here we come ..”, or email me bert dot windon @ gmail dot com

Hi Dale, I left a comment a week or so ago about an innovations group I had been involved in with BP. It was to do with petrol stations of the future you might remember. I also mentioned that the way the innovations group dynamic works is by a meeting of minds that have the belief that anything is possible.
At the moment the company I freelance for tends to attract clients like BP, Nestle, Vodafone etc. However, I feel there is potential for a new collective, focused solely on sustainable future ideas.
One that is very much aligned with your own ZeroCarbon vision.
If you would consider meeting with me in Stroud, I can explain more about the idea and how it could work.
Regards, John

During the last several years I have developed some wind energy innovations that can significantly improve the efficiency of conventional turbines. As an independant inventor it can be tough to break into the commercial market. Perhaps there can be a mutually beneficial arrangement that can be reached between us or a manufacturer/distributor that you can refer to me, . These innovations are at the earliest stage but their avantages are obvious. Anyone reading this post that can offer a reccomendation or suggestion it would be greatly appreciated………..Andrew

We may be “birds of a feather” – allthough I cannot claim to be an “inventor” – I have spent everything ,the last twenty years or so , in the pursuit of a wind-energy system that can pay for ITSELF !!
If you email bert dot windon @ gmail dot com I can show you and tell of the very successful outcome of my hike.
Best wishes
G. Gilbert Vaughan

I had no knowledge of your organisation until the weekend when I travelled through Norfolk and saw those beautiful turbines and decided to look you up on the web.
I wish you every success in this venture – the planet needs more people like you.

Please read the copy of a letter of mine on “Copenhagen here we come” It is Very serious, the geist of it is that Wind energy Has Helped – in the past – but that gigantic punk haircuts on sticks, do not. This is a fact, not merely the opinion of a guy who has spent the last 20 years achieving a wind-energy system that actually pays for ITSELF !! – within about 20 years, many sites, and muck less on the west coast of uk. You are, however unwhittingly, and with the best of intent I am sure, helping robbers wreck this Earth. That’s serious

You say you were a new age traveller – then you know how it is to live with no money. I am a single person who has lived rough and currently has no job i cannot afford your power but am tied to a contract with your company which i cannot get out of because i cant afford to. How does it feel having the power to cause sleepless nights and thoughts of suicide because of a few hundred pounds? Now its the debt collectors and a forcible entry to my small rented accommodation to take £100 per month form my £57 per week with a pay as you go meter.
I cant see the difference between your company and terrorists as this is terror to me.
I cannot afford your power no matter how green and noble LET ME GO BACK TO MY OLD PROVIDER ITS CHEAPER THAN HALF THE PRICE OF YOUR POWER.
YOU HAVE THE POWER I HAVE NOTHING

I’ve checked into this at some length and I’m told that you’ve never paid one of the bills we’ve sent you. My team have been trying very hard to resolve this with you in a decent way, we’ve been met by this kind of response all along. That left us with no choice but to seek to install a pay as you go meter – you are of course still taking power and refusing to pay for it – how can we allow that to continue? If you don’t pay your bills then those of our other customers are higher than they need to be – it’s like shoplifting. We’re always very reasonable when it comes to debt, always. But when someone just refuses point blank to pay we eventually have to do something like this.

I’m told that since writing this you’ve agreed now to make payments by instalment and so I hope that this is now resolved.

It certainly didn’t merit the description or the language you use here – or the threats you’ve been making.

That is not true… I only looked at the Ecotricity site to see if it was viable for a limited income like myself to use.
That enquiry turned out to be a legal bind with Ecotricity to which Ecotricity representatives said i could NOT get out of. I do like the idea of being as earth friendly as possible and have ensured all other steps of my life contribute to that friendliness. Unfortunately Ecotricity was not prepared to let me go as soon as i realised that the costs are DOUBLE to what i was paying as i had entered a legal contract without knowing and was not happy with paying the extra which i could not possibly afford. I did call within a month and was told that i could go back to my previous provider. That turned out not to be true too… as I got a bill a short time later for 3 months for so called green power provided by Ecotricity. I do not see why i should pay a company which deliberately miss guided me as i would have never have used the service, product depending how you look at the ” Provider ” term.
So yes because i was told an Ecotricity meter would be fitted AGAINST MY WILL even if I was not in I had to except to pay the bill.

I will always remember this mistake and an currently looking for ways to deal with this. I am glad to see you have put the tariffs in plain site as when I enquired the were obscured to say the least.

I am using your SUBMIT function/button to add this text written by me too your site. It implies nothing else.

The only threats that have been made have come from Ecotricity representatives to me. I.e forcing entry to my rented accommodation to put in a meter and/or giving up the contract in question to bailiffs so they can remove property from my accommodation to cover your costs.

Never sign another contract! Any real hippy/eco company would never advocate the use of more than a 1 month committment. Also, you’re still advocating the use of nuclear power by being part of the national grid, which of course Ecotricity feeds into, but chances are the electiricity you’re using isn’t generated by them but is from coal or nuclear. I don’t know what Dale was thinking when he decided to supply the National Grid. A backward step. Let each home power itself.

Firstly – this is not an Ecotricity support blog – as I am sure you are aware, so I would suggest that in the first instance you contact normal channels for support (see below), as I cannot guarantee that any customer service issue will be resolved from commenting on this blog.

I can understand, however, why some disgruntled customers (not many of ours you will notice) choose to shout about their case in a public place (such as a blog), but in your case, Ecotricity have done everything we can and more. I don’t believe it is in your best interests to continue this discussion in public – even if it does make us look more sympathetic to other readers.

Secondly – you *have* made threats and they have been documented. But let’s move on from that, seeing as Dale actually responded above 6 months ago.

You are now no longer an Ecotricity customer. We will not be changing your meter. All that remains is for you to continue to pay the debt that you have agreed to pay, with the terms you proposed.

You have the contact details of both our customer services team and customer champion team (and you have used them to great effect in the past), but I have asked them to contact you now to discuss what can be done about your apparent current difficulty in continuing your payment plan.

Point 1: Ecotricity is supplying the National Grid. Most of the electricity on the National Grid is of nuclear origin. Since there is no way to separate electricity generated by Ecotricity from electricity generated by nuclear power Ecotricity customers will still be using electricity from unethical sources. The whole idea of Ecotricity is neutralised by the fact it feeds the National Grid. The future is less consumption and for every home to generate its own power.

Point 2: Any truly fair company would not have their customer sign up for more than a one-month rolling contract.

As an employee at Ecotricity, I’d also like to mention just a couple of things if I may?

From the impression I am getting from reading this discussion it seems that you are just trying to start an argument. You have posted all of your gripes and issues here, in public, and so Paul has responded to them – quite rightly.

You cannot criticise Paul for responding to your post (and I believe: “and replying in public like this your point is?” is a criticism) as that’s the whole idea of a blog.

From what I’ve read it seems that we have helped you very much and gone out of our way to try and resolve your problems (you’ve even had the big man at the top look through your account!)- and you should be grateful for help, not fighting against it.

If you don’t want a public response to your ‘questions’ (now what seems to be an argument) then I strongly recommend you do not post them here.

I am pleased we have now arranged a suitable arrangement for you and I hope you feel you are treated better at your new supplier, and have no problems with them.

On July 31st I sent Helen Johnson some files of some of my wind energy innovations. Paul had suggested that she was the proper person to email. Let me know if you have viewed them and what you think. In my humble opinion, it would be great to see you be able to significantly increase your wind farm output at a relatively low cost.

I was just looking at the Guardian’s story that you link to from the Ecotricity website. It quotes Dale saying what is wrong about the 100% renewable energy but there is nothing there explicitly about what is right with Ecotricity. Was Dale edited or did he neglect to mention that Ecotricity build the most new renewable energy source per customer? I’m inclined to think the former.
Also, just idly wondering as I got back from Greenbelt festival earlier this week: Could Ecotricity have a bigger presence there, other than on Christian Aid leaflets? Perhaps you could do a talk there or at least have a stall there. Anyway, if you do you’ll have to wait till next August…
Regards, Jeff

My partner and I run a firm on Eco-architects in Stroud, Gordon Clarke Architects Ltd. We are business and personal consumers of Ecotricity which we think is great – thanks!
We would consider buying an electric car, but feel that there should be a network of charge-up points around the country for people to charge up on the street maybe like a parking meter. Have ecotricity thought of setting up a network like this to sell electricity to car users?
We have lots of great eco-ideas about buildings too. Give us a call on 01453 751007 if anyone wishes to discuss further.
Thanks again

Hi Julie, we’ve definitely thought of a network of charging points, right now we’re weighing up options – we would love to offer wind powered charging for EVs. We’ve a chance as well with a series of windmills we’re hoping to build along major transport corridors. Will update on this site once we have a bit of a plan we can talk about.
So watch this space… 🙂 Cheers.

May I invite Ecotricity to take part in the second Stroud Festival of Nature, Stratford Park, Sat/Sun 18/19 July. Twenty regional organizations attended this years. Looking to double that and more next year and run it in a seperate zone from the Stroud Show, on which it piggy backed this year. Want to cover as many aspects of nature (conservation, sustainability, energy, carbon footprint, access to countryside, etc, etc) as possible. There will be an emphasis on education. Also looking for sponsors.

On the day we have all found ourselves relieved of our own money to bail out the banks, part of me is, of course, happy that they will still be able to pay their private school fees and other pressing overheads, but another part is hoping that this vortex, or meltdown, or whatever it is, will allow a few holes into the grid of conventional economic thinking. Maybe then people like you, and the TRansition Towns movement, and the World Social Forum, may be taken seriously at last by the respectable world. I myself am marooned in a (very happy) family who, for some incomprehensible reason, have not yet been willing to move from their comfy home in Camden Town to a yurt in a wood, but I’m hoping even they may be forced by circumstances to come round. Meanwhile I write Mrs Normal Saves the World for other people like me – normal people with normal responsibilities who still find the odd moment to try to make things better. Thanks for the inspiration (and the ecotricity account – friendliest bill I think I’ve ever had). X Sheila Hayman
(www.mrsnormal.com)

I have accidentally stumbled into your world by driving past one of your windmills on the way to Legoland the other day (Reading area). I am very impressed. You have a vision and are prepared to do something about it. I feel I would enjoy working for you, in fact I’m gonna send you my CV !!

Thanks Sheila, it’s a big encouragement to hear this. I’m also hoping that conventional thinking may take a big knock through this recent turmoil. Capitalism, at least the unfettered kind, has definitely taken flak, I know where you’re coming from. A yurt in the woods sounds great (that’s the hippy in me) but don’t be hard on yourself – it’s going to take the ‘normal’ people of this world to make the change we need to see. Thanks again. Cheers.

since you’re dealing with change, energy and sustainable future, I wanted to point you to a news about a video Greenpeace has just launched on YouTube to co-incide with their latest report “Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook?”, produced by the European Renewable Energy Council, which provides a practical blueprint for rapidly cutting energy-related CO2.

The video features JFK arguing that “climate change threatens our very existence. Now is the time for an energy revolution.” Of course, JFK never said it, but the video went through a very good montage and a computer-generated process to achieve this.

I am so glad that you are looking into building windmills along transport corridors as you mention in one of your replies above.

So often the biggest excuse for not building wind turbines is that they are blot on the landscape. So the obvious solution in my view is (wind conditions permitting) site them where there is already a blot on the landscape. Along motorway corridors, beside electricity pylons and so on.

I would love to know more about this plan when it is possible for you to reveal more.

Congratulations on your success and for inspiring us all to run a business and do good at the same time.

In building windfarms we are blotting the landscape. The future is less consumption and for every home to generate its own power. Having a National Grid is a mistake; it needs to be scaled-down with a view to being phased-out. It won’t be though, because it ensures the power – literally and figuratively – lies with the government and electricity-generating companies. The National Grid is a stick to beat us with.

I work as the mechanical design coordinator to retrofit a 1500mw coal-fired powerplant with emissions control equipment here in the US. Your challenge to install a wind turbine on an automobile intrigues me as I have been telling the boys I work with about designing something like this for almost two years. Every time I bring up this conversation at the lunch table, I get laughed at by all the other engineers I work with. I’m assuming that you will not be able to be run the car entirely on wind, but I’m very curious about any additional efficiency that the wind turbine will add. My idea of this kind of car goes well beyond just wind. There are other efficiencies that I would add to this in addition to just wind.

But, on all your videos, you have not made any mention to the addition of the wind turbine itself?? Up until this point, it just looks like you’re building an all electric supercar. Are you just keeping us in suspense?

If you make this car a success, I will proudly display your video to all my nay-saying co-workers!!

Best of luck with your project. I hope for the best and truly wish I was there to help!

I’ve just arrived here from an italian car’s blog, and I am really surprised. As an spanish computer science engineer, I love new tech gadgets and I take care about our world. At same time, I love cars… but I know that it’s time to change; this world cannot continue damaging itself!

A week ago I told my girlfriend that I didn’t understand why electric car were taking advantage of regenerative brakes but not from air resistance at cruising speed!! Without technical arguments I suppose that going over 80mph air resistance is strong enough to charge batteries; at least a %… And I found this website!

Thanks Joe, the windmills that will power our car won’t be fitted to it, they will be connected to the grid, from which we will charge the car. It’s actually the best way to couple wind energy and cars – both in terms of engineering (cars and windmills don’t mix well), efficiency (the best winds are not where the roads are) and cost (for both of the previous reasons). Cheers.

G’day Dale, Without being disrespectful to Joe, did you have to supress a giggle re his query on where the wind turbine was on your car?..I know I did 🙂 Seriously though, your work is inspirational to the average Joe (no pun intended) like myself and as a typical Aussie petrol head I’m following the progress of your Nemesis with much anticipation. (With any luck the term “petrol head”will eventually become redundant!)

Like others, I stumbled on this website ,and I keep nipping back to read more.

I saw the article in various publications about the Severn Barrage proposals, and I decided to find out who you were. I have to be completely honest at this point. I think that what went into print about that, as your view, was unbelievably irresponsible and naive. Ok.. that’s a big call because I’m just this bloke from Stourport who works in an advice centre, and you have done a lot of really good stuff by the looks of it, but you also strike me as somebody who works out the right answers, so I’ll nail my colours to the mast.. I stand by that view. I think the opinions expressed in the media a couple of days ago were …well…as I said.

I really didn’t want to like what I found on your website, but I have to be honest, I think it’s top quality. I would like to think we could actually enter into a dialogue about barrage technologies, and see where the evidence really does point, because I also went through Turning the tide as my starting point, and I dismissed it as inadequate and misleading.

Wish you all the success in the world pushing through with your ideas for Tricorn House. I know what it’s like trying to be innovative in Stroud. I am a Director of Capel MIll Dev Co Ltd which has been working to develop an iconic, imaginative, sustainable, visitor centre/ educational resource/social enterprise hub at Capel Mill below Waitrose for some years now. The town and the district needs people with your kind of vision. Good luck!

I have been following your company and you (via your blog and through the press I may add) for a while now. I am very inspired by your ability to drive and motivate your ideas.

I am a (relatively) young entrepreneur I am looking for someone to mentor me, to help me work out how to realise some of my own grand ideas. I guess you have a lot on and are probably too busy to do such a thing, but no harm in asking. 🙂

How you keeping? I just wanted to drop on here to say you are my role model at this point in time. About a year ago I started thinking a bit differently about climate change etc and thought “What if i could start a green company selling electricity?”. Well I eventually found out you had the exact same thought as me only you had it way before.

My grand plan was to set up wind turbines all along the west coast of Ireland (yes, I know, its not easy to set this up but I have time on my side, still in college) and have the project finance itself by ploughing all profits back in. Just like yours it seems. My hopes of being the first to do this were dashed when i read the article about you in the Times. Not that it was a bad thing. So now my plan is to setup a company like yours in Ireland.

I’m very passionate about green energy and I think being in a construction/engineering college can help me achieve my goal. I have thousands of the right books around. But is there any tips you could give at this point in time now that I’m just starting? Any particular books that could help me on the way? Would really appreciate the help.

I called your company just before Christmas wanting to sign up to ecotricity but on an economy 10 basis, the guy said he’d get back to me but he never did! I’ve recently built a house on Gower, South Wales, it’s considered a bit of an eco house and is due to be featured on the next series of ‘It’s not easy being green’. My problem is – the house has an air source heat pump with underfloor heating, but to make the house carbon neutral I need ecotricity. Although my system will work using full tariff electricity I need economy 10 to make it worth while, I’m told that you don’t do this yet, can you and when is my question? I’m planning to go full on into building new carbon neutral houses if your interested in discussing it further, it all sounds good in theory but isn’t that easy to achieve in reality, given our moist windy climate etc.

Thanks Neil. My big focus is on harnessing a large generation scheme (like the barrage) for the public good – in this case to eradicate fuel poverty and save us all Billions paid to the big six each year in the current futile attempt to do so.

My starting proposition is ‘if’ the barrage is a good idea – here’s a way to make it work better. The concept works equally well for a tidal stream scheme, or reef – even offshore windpower.

My focus is on the economic side, government becoming a generator again, cutting out the middlemen and bringing long term sustainable benefits to society. I think some of this was lost in the press story, but my post starts out clearly enough, there are pros and cons, but just assume it should be done for a minute and consider how it’s done – that’s my message. I appreciate your comments. Cheers.

Hi Paul, thanks for asking, but it’s as you guess, I am stretched pretty thin right now. You can by all means float your ideas here and seek advice, there’s a shed load of knowledge and expertise blogging here. Sorry I can’t offer more. Cheers.

Dale,
good blog :). Having followed your progress since seeing the Swaffham turbine go up I want to congratulate you on what you’ve done. I read the article on you in the Times at the weekend and it seems we share a number of ideas and character traits – both from norfolk, both startied as long haired hippies with a simple idea, and both still passionate and excited about sustainability.

I set up liftshare.com 10 years back having failed most of my exams in Bristol. We now have 300,000 members, take 40,000 cars off the road every day and save a fair bit of CO2.

I note that one of your areas of interest is transport and wondered if you had come across us or given thought to the 38 million empty car seats on UK roads every day and the huge potential they have to solve our transport issues.

I’m sure you have a heap of things coming across your desk every day but it would be great to have a chat.

Dale, that’s a good, measured response. As I have said elsewhere on this site, I think we have the same goal. And I know how the press tend to find the story they want in something which might have an entirely different meaning.

We are an Architectural Practice in London, specialising in sustainable developments. Recently we have been working on a Government research paper to develop planning guidelines for sustainable suburbs. Our hypothesis for the study being that the infrastructure is fundamental to a truly sustainable community, and if an innovative, adaptable system is implemented from the start then good quality housing and new businesses will follow and communities will thrive. When we speak of infrastructure we include energy, transportation, water recycling, education and community facilities. Our intention is to create a collaborative network of public and private partners to deliver an infrastructure, which will allow communities to adapt and evolve as they grow.
We are planning to put together a team to prepare development proposals for various sites and we would welcome the opportunity to meet with you and run through our ideas in more detail. The proposals would benefit greatly from your input and we imagine that Ecotricity could be ideal partners for future developments.

We are a new network established by the University of Bath to build an active community in this sector and establish impactful links between companies and universities. Low Carbon South West will make it easier for companies, entrepreneurs, investors and researchers to meet and exchange ideas and opportunities. The network will also provide a showcase for low carbon technology innovation.

We are currently creating our database (email, tel etc)to update everbody about the nesw and what we are doing. You are the one of the important names that we would love to keep in our database. You may be interested in coming or speaking to our students or researchers.

The best thing is that you dont have to go to London to do these things! Bath is a beautiful local city.

Hi Pinar, thanks for this glad you liked the Greenbird…… 🙂 I’m so slow here in replying that the 2nd of Oct has passed already, mind you I wouldn’t have been able to make it anyway. Grateful for the thought and the invite though. Cheers.

Love your blog! I was wondering if you would consider including mine in your list of links. It’s Zero Carbon City Gazette (http://zerocarboncitygazette.com). While this is an automated blog, it is totally non-commercial. My intent is to interest people in the potential of zero-carbon and to provide them with plenty of resources to study. I’ve listed your marvelous blog, and I hope you’ll list mine!

Been following your blogs since discovering Ecotricity via the Sunday Times interview.

I am very interested in the electric car project. I proposed the use of an electric car in one of my Level 6 Fully Sustainable Dwelling projects but the planning officer gave the opinion that “ensuring an electric vehicle is always available would be onerous”. You are proving the opposite.

I would welcome your collaboration in developing energy efficient buildings and in particular your home turbine project for cities.

I am a Brit expat stay at home Dad ex-hippy living in Bavaria, Germany. My main focus down here at the moment is growing my own food but I am getting into energy efficiency. Saw your article in the Sunday Times.

I have slightly hippyish roots – went on the hippy trail in Kathmandu and Manali and met my wife in Mongolia whilst staying in a ger or yurt there. I lived five years in the Arabian Gulf mapping coral reef habiats.

Will you add me to your list of blogs? I’m going to check up this site regularly now I’ve found you!

I am a trustee of Stroud Court Community Trust at Minchinhampton where we look after about forty autistic adults. Stroud Court was established in 1982 in 17 acres adjoining Longfords Mill including some listed buildings. We now have to develop new buildings with much improved heat and light and sustainability.

We have advanced plans to develop partially underground pods to accomodate most of our residents. But work remains to be done on the choice of heating and other issues. We are in an AONB and very much interested lo learn whether we have any sustainability options open to us.

I would like to pass on some information to you which you may find useful in the development of the ‘surface face’ of your turbine blades.

Last year I came upon a very interesting development in Canada where a study of the nodules on the tailfin of a humpback whale has led to it being applied to the leading edge surface of the blades on a wind turbine. The resultant effect was that the blades could be angled more steeply into the wind without the risk of turbulence or malfunction – the bottom line being that the turbine was able to increase its power output by up to 40%

Hi Paul, There are no books I can recommend and I have very few tips to offer, sorry to say. I can tell you that I think what you’ll need to succeed in this are guts and determination. And time. Should be easier to get this kind of thing off the ground now mind you, the times they have a changed somewhat. Good luck with your venture. Cheers.

——–

Hi John, sorry about this. We’ve had several enquiries about this and are keen to offer a tariff if we can help ground source in that way. It’s not as easy as it sounds though, to create a new tariff. This week I asked our IT guys to look at the system changes we’d need and our trading team to consider pricing structure – we def are looking at this. Would love to be able to provide a ground source heat pump friendly tariff, in fact I’m sure we will, just a matter of how quickly. Would also be happy to collaborate where we can. Hope that helps. Cheers.

Hi Phil – we’re into all forms of deep green energy, that means energy made without combustion of anything (sun, wind, water) and we’re into energy use reduction too – two sides of the same coin to us – we need to use less and what we do use must come from truly sustainable sources – in a nutshell.

——————

Hi Sean, thanks for this. Our Urbine is still a year or so away from being ready I think. But come the day, assuming we get it to work well enough, would be happy to collaborate on that.

Hi Tony, off the top of my head I’d say options open to you, and worth exploring, would include ground source heat pumps and solar thermal – should not bother the planners too much. PV is always an option if cost doesn’t matter. Micro wind might work where you are, and will be far more economic than PV if so – and actually planners are pretty relaxed about that even in AONBs these days.

I suspect that the natural convection in the chimney will be insufficient to drive a turbine and produce any useful amount of power at all without causing a big pressure drop and basically blocking the exhaust air flow..

I suspect that it would have to be a very big chimney, with a huge fire underneath, for it to generate the flow rate needed to produce meaningful quantities of electricity. The trouble is that a turbine within the flue would constitute a (partial) blockage and would thus impair the efficiency of the whole wood burning system. It might also be very difficult to keep it working in such a hostile environment – with soot and temperature as the primary impediments to smooth uninterrupted operation.

If anything is put in the way of the flow of emissions from a chimney it will cause smoke to hang about at a lower altitude than would otherwise be the case. Taking energy out of a system, be it kinetic or in the form of heat, has consequences. It is fairly usual to have a fan mounted on the chimney-pot which works on the Savonius principle but this is turned by the wind to generate an updraught in what would otherwise be a lazy flue; in effect the opposite of the system you propose.

In many respects a chimney is the ideal site for a Savonius turbine as it does not need to turn into the wind as a horizontal axis machine would. For power generation, Savonius turbines – from what I have read about them – tend to be used in a vertical axis orientation and work best in lower wind speeds and are self-starting. Darrieus vertical axis turbines are the better option for higher speeds and are more efficient but do not self-start. Not being affected by wind direction means that the proximity of the roof and other nearby building features is less of an issue with vertical axis turbines. However, the fact remains that the interruption to the airflow caused by such features of the locality will necessarily reduce operating efficiency. The only option would be to go higher – but that might cause planning problems and put more stress into the structure of the chimney.

With regard to your final paragraph, perhaps we should see the free moving hot air not as being wasted, but actually as part of the efficient working of a wood burning system.

Just to remind you, this is lowcarbonsouthwest network team from The Innovation Centre, University of Bath.
Thank you for your reply. Please have a look what we are doing from the link below. We have got more coming!
Would you be interested in visiting us for one of our event and to speak for University of Bath?

I am norwegian journalist who after almost 20 years in television have left a safe job, to work on more meaningful projects. Among others establishing the worlds first Obamafestival this summer in Bolærne, a beautiful island south of Oslo. A festival inspired by the american president Barck Obama talk of CHANGE – more precisely – the impossible is possible.

I have read your story and it seems to me that you have made the impossible possible(?) I therefore wondered if we could invite you to the festival to talk about your effort and ambitions to make a zero carbonista. There is quite a few people coming to the festival who done the impossible possible and the whole idea is to inspire people to leave the main road and challenge themselves (life is short etc!) . I do not know if this mail finds its way through cyberspace, but I cross my fingers and hope to hear from you.

@Tommy Murphy – thanks for the link Tommy, I’d heard about this Whale Tubercle thing a few months ago, but didn’t have a link to the guys developing the applications.

Very interesting stuff – and if what they say is right (and not a bit exaggerated… 🙂 ) then it should bring really big benefits to wind and probably tidal power too.

Not sure on the patenting mind you, looks like something nature should have the patent on, and in a way you’d have to be daft to say these lumps on the fins of a whale must be a mistake of one million years evolution, bit obvious that they had a function maybe….?

Dale – as you are a Green entrepreneur in the South West, would you be interested in helping us oppose the unnecessary expansion of Bristol Airport? It aims to increase flights causing an extra 300,000 tonnes of CO2 to be emitted each year (with around double that impact), and assumes someone else will pick up the tab for the damage done.

We need respected business people to state that they do not require the airport to expand in order for their own business to succeed, and we could really do with your help.

I have been hearing about your company for a long time but have only recently found your blog. I am always incredibly inspired by companies like yours.

Recently we began publishing small blog pieces on our site and through it, people like you, have captivated a fairly large audience of green-minded readers. Over the months we have had stories from authors, inventors and ecologically minded business-people.

I wonder whether we could post something about you as an inspiration to others and as a nice way to introduce your company to our readership which includes a great many investors in green energy.

I have only recently discovered this site after reading a press interview with yourself. So much material here and so interesting, it really makes Ecotricity feel like a community, as opposed to just a company. I write a blog which is dedicated to the subject of offshore wind energy. Depthcharge (my blog), talks about the social, political, economic and technical aspects of offshore wind energy. I believe these issues need to be explained clearly to the public, as the the environmental message is sometimes easily dismissed all to easily by certain sections of the business community.

Please take just two minutes to read a story on my blog and if you think its ok, please could you add a link from Zero carbonista?

Hi Dale
Just been looking at your project for an houre now, and i think it is very very cool..
I am studying Automotive Design and would love to learn more about your product and ideas, are there any way that i can contact you and your crew??

Lovin’ your work. As a property developer I always seem to come up against nimbys and the like. I’m a little surprised that you do though. Is it not possible to make an efficient olde worlde windmill? Where I live in the Chilterns, original windmills are sought after properties. Surely the only objection to a modern windmill can be a aesthetic one. The planet is choking. We’re running out of gas. The imports are coming from more volatile countries. We’re over a barrel!

I can’t help thinking that although it’s an important target to become more efficient, its’ more important to physically get these things built.

Don’t get me wrong, I like the look of a wind farm, I just think a “new” design might help move things on a little.

You like cars! F1 budgets are being slashed and regulations tightened all the time. These teams fight clever. A olde worlde windmill would be a sucker punch.

I’m writing an article that tries to envision what the green car economy will look like in 2030 (for green futures magazine). Some researchers at UC Berkeley (US) predict up to 39% of cars on the road might e-vehicles by then, and powered by wind and solar.

After working on your own e-car for awhile now, how do you see this prognosis? Do you visualize we’ll have embraced evs that thoroughly, and have made them part of a clean energy and sustainable transport system? I guess I’m a bit worried that with all the hype about hybrids and evs right now it will end up being same game, new owners, and won’t really lead us to re-think the way we do transport (and energy) for that matter. Love to hear you current thinking.

Great to read your blog and learn a little of the man behind Ecotricity – very inspiring! I think the hill you lived on in the early ’90’s is just up the road from me in the Cotswolds 🙂

I’m a designer and have an eco-invention called Firewinder that’s all about inspiring people to engage with nature and see the beauty of clean renewable energy. Firewinder visualises the wind as a mesmerising spiral of light. While we’re only a small UK company we’ve just won a Green Dot Award in the US.

I don’t need help as such, but I do have some great ideas for engaging people with public art and wonder how this might benefit Ecotricity too – I’m thinking of an installation at one of your sites. I’d like to send a Firewinder to you. If you’re interested drop me a line by email.

Hi Dale. I’ve been following the land and ice speed record attempts and have become a visitor to your website because of your sponsorship. I live on a different continent so unfortunately cannot use Ecotricity but would if I could. Hopefully one day you’ll set up in Australia. Just wanted to let you know how interesting and informative your blog is and I think it’s great what you’ve done and are doing. I’ll be sure to keep reading. All the best.

I’ve been signed up to ecotricity for a few years now. Glad that the wind share is increasing. I was wondering whether it wouldn’t be interesting for you to create a way that people could invest in ecotricity or ecotricity projects, perhaps a bit like the wind co-ops. Is it something you’ve thought of? I’m sure there would be a lot of people interested in putting their spare cash in something worthwhile.

I have just read in the Sunday Time Rich List that you are 657th equal richest in the UK, with a fortune of £85 million. To be a new entrant into this rarified publication is quite an achievement in these times.

Whatever your true wealth – and whatever you regard true wealth to be – well done!

Hi Dale,
I’m from NoMorePost.com, We’ve developed a secure online system for all households in the uk, to recieve all thier bills and statements online. We hope to massively increase the amount of cusumers who opt out of paper billing. To have a positive environmental effect.

We know from our initial research that most utility companies, only have a small percentage of customers who opt for paperless billing, the number one reason for this is the inconvenience of logging into several websites.

We are talking to several Utility Companies. We’d like to offer our service to Ecotricity,

A bill or statement can be sent through our system for as little as a penny.

It has been said before here and you have probably already looked at this.
At some point in the not so distant future, there will be an enormous increase in the amount of EV’s driving around the roads. Many will not have the battery capacity to take journeys on motorways but people will begin to attempt short journeys. Motorway areas are already considered to be a blot on the landscape and there is a constant rumble of traffic which would easily drown out the light whooshing from any wind turbine. Do you have any future plans to build wind turbine EV refuelling stations by motor ways? The idea to me is compelling. You could dispense the energy directly at the site meaning no actual need for grid connectivity and the expensive infrastructure that goes with it. It would kill a flock of birds with one stone and if you got in there early Ecotricity could be the future of re-fuelling stations on the motor way.

ps , I in no way advocate the mass murder of avian life with mineral missiles – it’s just a metaphor.

I should also add, that one of the current problems with the economy of renewables is the storage of large amounts of electricity from renewables for later use. Having a billion cars running around constantly taking electricity from Wind Turbine re-fuelling stations and using that energy progressively throughout the day would go a long way to redress the green/brown power energy usage ratio meaning that much less oil would have to be imported and burnt in this country. If the model worked it would almost definitely be copied around the world.

Dale, I worked with Ecotricity for about a year in 2003. I am looking at starting a wind gen company in South Africa and would like to get advice on this. I’ve got the basic components in my head and would specifically like to discuss startup. From what I see Ecotrocity has been going from strength to strength, quite impressive. Regards Albert

I’m completely new to the business of renewable energies. A few months ago an acquaintance of mine hired me to run a new eco company he and his colleagues were in the process of setting up in Gibraltar. The directors have a combination of 40 years air-conditioing and electrical contracting experience. We are the first renewable energy company to have set up here so our learning curve has been vertical but interesting to say the least.

Gibraltar has huge insolation possibilities for solar power due to its geographic location as well as large wind resources in the straits area. That said the market is very small – 30,000 inhabitants, lots of small business’s located in clustered offices and an industrial estate.

Power generation is diesel and the grid is unable to accept input from micro generation so subsidies or net metering cannot be considered and there is as yet no government policy. A new diesel power station is being planned BUT no guarantees of an anode system so we could be in the same situation in several years time when it comes online.

Having said all of that we are still getting enquiries for alternative energy so there is a market to be had though it is for stand alone systems. I’d be interested in discussing with you if there is a mutually beneficial way forward or if your model could work, I’m stumped at this stage to be honest. Maybe I’m looking at it the wrong way.

Off the top of my head I can’t think of something. I’d say the solar thermal of PV side must be your best option on Gib (not a lot of room for windmills I think – though there is plenty of wind nearby) – also it’s worth thinking about the ‘market next door’ – Spain or Morocco, both with the same sun and bigger populations. Just my thoughts.

Nothing is so bad as to think about suicide. It may seem it now but regardless of what happens, the sun always rises and sets and there is always another day to start afresh.

What’s the worst that can happen. you loose everything financially, correct? You once slept rough and then worked your way back into a flat, you can do it again if it comes to it but it probably won’t, you just feel bad presently. In the future, you will feel better again and then you can move on.

The world we live in is extremely interesting and there’s something for everyone. If nothing else, don’t you want to hang around and see what happens next?

I have recently graduated from Huddersfield University of which I studied Transport Design. I was pointed towards your site through a contact who knows a Peter Stevens? on your design team. Anyway I have a project which I was told that you might find interesting, a new ‘green’ method of transport. This was my major project in the final year of my course.

Hi Dale,
congratulations on getting the entrepreneur awards. I was just idly wondering: any chance of seeing a blog on being a green entrepreneur? I’m not thinking of becoming one, but I’d be interested in reading about it. How you made it? How you knew (or found out) the economics stacked up? How the economics stack up in future? Where entrepreneurial skills were needed? Where the financial challenges were? What areas are still left for budding green entrepreneurs etc?

Keep up the good work. The financial success of ecotricity is just as important as its environmental success if the environmental success is to continue.

The forum is brilliant for great minds alike to communicate.
At the pace it’s growing it really will be a central meeting point for us to discuss issues that need to be talked about and like you said “to be acted on”
Just finished putting my blog together and linked you in.
You’re inspiring to a lot of us out there. Thank you.

Having said that, the third in a series of Low Carbon South West events, Burning Rubber, which address specific sector challenges in transitioning to a low carbon economy, is taking place on 2nd October 2009.
Prof Gary Hawley -a member of the All Party Parliamentary Renewable Transport Fuels Group, Dean & Medlock Chair of the University of Bath’s Faculty will be speaking – and we also invited senior execs from the Renewable Fuels Agency and Ashwoods to speak.
I think Greenbird has a lot to say and it chalenges to other alternatives.
Dale, it would be a fantastic opportunity for all of us to hear about this more. Would you be interested coming and present Greenbird Project? My conatct detail is below and I can happly send you a draft flyer if you wish.

What a story! This is exactly the kind of green fairy tale I like to read and read to my children too. Dont be a follower, dont wait for the fashion to start to embrace it!
I am the founder of a green social network named Cooltribe, actually we´re the UK´s only green social network… We want to help “normal” people lead a low carbon lifestyle. I think people have started their journey with recycling, fair trade product purchase but a lot more can be done like switching to ecotricity, banking with the likes of Triodos and so on…and we ´re determined to help. My kids, both 7 (twins) are building their first mini wind turbine…it is proving challenging but they want to crack it by teh time school starts. Will post the video when done.
Dale, well done for being a true forward thinking leader!

I´m very proud of you man, a few months ago I was fired off my employ in a large telecom suplyer company, you know, Alcatel-Lucent. Since I´m very down by not due to my job loss but what to do im my engineering career.
In fact before my fired, I was very sad with coorporate life, remember to bless your military-truck on the road and the time on the road instead a being employed.
Read a interview in a brazilian magazine (Negócios S/A)
You provide me self motivation to keep on, peharps creating a Ecotricity brazilian version! Just a joke, but you in fact opened my eyes when you sad: “Richness doesn´t measure nothing!”

Hey Bruno, thanks for this, really appreciate your comments. Hope you find yourself another job soon enough, or even get started on a Brazilian ecotricity – why not… 🙂 Those days I spent in my old truck were special, thanks for reminding me. (Get yourself an old truck if you get the chance…. 🙂

I love the work you are doing, and seeing the results of your struggle makes the light at the end of my dark and dingy tunnel seem much closer.

My name is Mark Davies and I am the only Director at Solar Legacy, a social enterprise designed to raise awareness of global warming and encourage people to take personal responsibility for their co2 emissions. We are supplying renewable energy products and I have found a way to make all green energy even greener.

I have teamed up with an organisation who have planted over 50 million trees worldwide. we are helping them to fundraise in the UK and we are complimenting their projects by operating a fund to supply the people connected to these projects with free solar power generating equipment. these people have had their lives devastated by the GREEDY WEST who have deforested their homes without regard for the consequences.

A by-product of the work we are trying to achieve is that each tree will remove around 50lbs of co2 from the atmosphere each year. We sell renewable energy products and any of my suppliers carbon neutralise these products along with us carbon neutralising the building to which they are attached by facilitating the planting of enough trees to guarantee the job is done!

It would be great if we could chat at some stage. My company is only in it’s infancy but I am the new kid on the block and it would be great if one day people like us could push the other greedy gas guzzling gits back to their own side of the Channel!!!!

Thanks Mark, good to hear from you and thanks for your support. I’m a fan of tree planting myself though not such a fan of carbon offsetting. I’m totally pushed for time right now but at some point would be happy to hook up and see what we can do together. Meanwhile I wish you all the best with your venture.

I know you are not a fan of carbon offsetting and nor am I really. Carbon offsetting as it is used generally today is a form of passing the buck and covering up or balancing the books. What we are trying to achieve at Solar Legacy is to help people to realise that through planting trees they can actually ABSORB co2 from the atmosphere and not just offset it. This is what I would call taking action. We live in a world where it is not possible to immediately stop using fossil fuels and this is why it is important for each and every one of us to think about what we are doing now and how we can change things for the better. Planting trees is the best possible solution to deal with the co2 which we cannot avoid right now.

I would like to take you up on the offer of hooking up later on Dale, in the meantime perhaps you would get somebody in your marketing department to call me as I would like to dedicate a page on our website to Ecotricity and link to your website in order that we may encourage people to switch supplier and purchase CLEAN power. No strings attached, all yours for free.!!!!

My office is now powered by you guys and I have planted enough trees to absorb the co2 emitted in the past.

A friend of mine passed on the link to your site and I’m amazed by the work you’ve been doing – this kind of stuff is just what the world needs right now.

I’m currently working with a company called People Unlimited to set up a seminar series called Positive Change that is all about inspiring people to make positive changes by working for organisations that are value-led rather than profit-driven. The series is being run in partnership with 2Way Development.

We have three events coming up in the autumn, one of which is about careers in sustainable development with different sessions focusing on renewable energy, fair-trade and ethical sourcing, and climate change. The event is aimed at both new graduates and people looking to change their careers and our approach is to have several speakers giving a broad overview and their experience of working in this field.

We’re looking for speakers who are inspirational and knowledgeable, able to motivate and enthuse as well as provide practical advice and direction. I wanted to know if this might be something you might be interested in getting involved with?

If you have any questions, please let me know and I would be happy to provide you with more information. I hope to be in touch soon!

Hi Neva, thanks very much for those kind words, always gives me a boost to hear that the work we do has such support.

Thanks also for the invitation to come and speak at one of your events, which I’d love to do, but unfortunately pressures or work are keeping me away from all speaking engagements for the foreseeable – I’ve been unable to get to my blog site for the last month or so…… 🙂

It’s great to hear what you’re up to and very worthwhile stuff too, so good luck with that and pls keep it up.

Hi Nick, I hope you might understand that we have ideas pitched to us almost daily and while we’re grateful for that we can’t always respond in the time we’d like to – or other people would like us to.

If you want to send me a summary of your PR idea I’d be pleased to take a look and come back to you as soon as I can. Best would be to e-mail it to my PA Helen – who’s number I think you have.

I did eventually manage to get through to your marketing team in the hope of arranging a meeting to discuss the concept. I trust the promised return-call will still be honoured.

Should Ecotricity have any any further interest I will be happy to make full and proper disclosure of this and other ecological innovations, with business plans including reports, designs, costings, etc, provided that matters regarding intellectual property go through formal procedures.

Hi Dale
Do you have any info / opinions on vertical axis wind generators, particularly for sensitive sites where a full horizontal axis generator may raise too much objection from neighbours? We live on the tops around Chalford and travel to places like the Yorkshire Dales, full of wind but not many generators.
Thanks v much
peter

I think Vertical axis wind turbines are interesting and especially have potential in urban or more built up areas. Not actually because of lower visual impact, though you may well be right about that – more for reasons of efficiency in low wind speed areas.

There are a few Vertical axis machines making their way to market these days, honestly I haven’t heard that any one of them actually works well – but I suspect this will change. The first generation of micro turbines were horizontal axis and were rubbish, attention has turned to Vertical and I think it can be made to work.

The biggest obstacle is the wind actually – in urban areas it’s rubbish. If you live on a hill top you won’t have that problem. I’ve no advice to offer on a machine I know that works, sorry to say.

I am from Northern Ireland and familiar with a company called Limavady Gear Company. They are one of the most advanced in Vertical Turbine design in the Uk if not Europe. They had a turbine at Glastonbury this year. Their brand name is Skyrota. Their website is http://www.limgear.com Please ask for Richard Hogg. He is the MD. Tell him Tommy Murphy gave you the info. Good luck

Hi Dale, I respect your concern for the planet, and give you props for the lifestyle sacrifices you make.

I have a question maybe you could help me with. I’m not trying to start an acrimonious dispute, and I understand the concept of ‘just because your lifestyle is different, doesn’t mean it is wrong’.

Maybe we can agree on this: No matter how green you are, there will always be someone greener. As a human, there is no way to exist without having an impact on your environment.

Question:
If your true success in life is to have less of an impact on your environment than people around you, what have you really accomplished? After all, every person on this planet is greener than someone who is less green than them.

looking at dales impact it wouldn’t take a genius to work out that it has been a positive 1 for the planet. maybe it will take a desaster or two but 1 day the human race will have a positive impact on the planet or die out as countless species have before them. the human race does not have to be a negative.

Not sure about the question, I mean it feels like maybe you have misunderstood me or something I’ve said (or I misunderstand you…. 🙂

To clarify I’m not interested in being greener than someone or anyone else, that’s not what drives me and it’s not a way that I measure things. I think, in life, we all have different journeys to take and we’re all at different stages on those journeys. My focus is on sustainability and one of the biggest issues coming from that, which is of course climate change. I think that the solutions required are possible, we need good information, applied technology and behaviour change to get to where we need to be.

This blog site is about trying to pull together good information which can lead to technology being applied in the right place and to behaviour change. I’m def not here to judge anyone.

Hi Dale, it is great to be reading your success story especially in my office with the sun poring through knowing there are people like you that will help this continue, I love the sun. (and wind! lol)

I too have a technology that will help shape things to come in the recycling world. My process is unique, NO MORE LANDFILL, NO MORE INCINERATION, NO MORE CARBON EMMISSIONS. as it uses a cold process

Please look at my website and call me if you would be interested in a partnership. To say I would be ecstatic to have someone like you who has the same passion and drive that I possess working with me would be an understatement.

I not only use all the brains I have but all I can borrow.
– Wilson, Woodrow T

Hi Dale, I hope all is well with you. As you are probably aware through Helen, nice lady 😉 I had a chat with her a couple of weeks ago with regards to approaching you to partner with me and my business. I appreciate you must get bombarded by a number of individuals stating they have some great solutions but everyone I have introduced this process to in the Environment sector agrees that this is a new and very unique solution that the World let alone the UK needs.

My approach is pretty much what the quote says, I am currently looking for a partner that will help me push/champion this in the UK and Ecotricity and in particular you as an individual are a perfect fit for that.

All I am asking is for a chance to meet with you to give you an over view, if then it is something you would like to get involved with then great, if not no harm done!!

Either way it is great to see the work and success you are achieving as an entrepreneur!

I just came across the blog today and I’m really loving it! The concept of Ecotricity just goes to show us that our friends across the pond are miles ahead of us in America.

Wanted to drop you a line about something we’re doing Stateside, that we think you’d enjoy. I work with The League of Young Voters Education Fund and we just published a video about the hypocrisy of clean coal over at ShutUpWindmill.com.

Just switching our business over to Ecotricity. Would switch home over but we are already off grid.

While talking to your sales guy he mentioned that you were about to launch a ‘green gas’ product.

Just a thought (which you may well already have had yourselves!) but as supermarkets throw away a huge amount of ‘waste’ food which we as memebrs of the public cannot access (to recycle as chicken food, pig food etc) due to pretty stupid applications of health and safety regulations, can Ecotricity not strike some sort of deal with Somerfield, Sainsbury’s etc to take the ‘waste’ food from them and bung it into the digesters that you will use to create the ‘green gas’??

Hi Dale,
Merry Christmas and all my best wishes for a happy new year to you and your family.
We have successfully tested our patented compressed air engine motorbike on a range of 118 km and are currently making the car prototype to show the world in a few months time.Our technology is different from MDI who have achieved a range of only 7.22 km so far.We also patented a new compressor which has a superior efficiency than the ones on the market.This compressor will not only be useful in reducing the 80 Terrawatt of electricity used in European industry today for making compressed air but will be most valuable for the storage of energy in the form of compressed air from windmills to be used later for electricity generation to guarantee a stable supply to the grid.This storage is most important when we know that more and more renewable energy is being fed onto the grid and the intermittency of same due to weather conditions.Pls advise your contact details to discuss these with your esteemed company.Thanks

Dale
I have been reading about Ecotricity over the last couple of days having seen the label on that marvelous turbine at Reading. Well done for opting back in and setting off on an exciting adventure building Ecotricity. You have a great vision and appear to be building a fantastic business.
Looks like you have chosen your bank well too – Triodos are a good fit.
I wish you well in 2010. I was dissapointed to see the outcome of the Tricorn House CPO process. I am sure that the right result will be forthcoming soon – Stroud is a great place and needs to retain a business such as yours.
Regards
Jeremy – Project Manager and Wind Turbine/RE Enthusiast

Over the years I have followed your career with much interest. Your latest venture, the Nemises electric car project is something I had attempted back in 2006 under the “Triumph” brand name. The project was itself called “Triumph for the Environment” but on account of BMW owning the marque the venture was a non-starter.

There are many similarities in the projects, for example I attempted to interest Sir Richard Branson in the Electric Car World Land Speed Record….and I remember advocating a throaty sports car noise simulation at a Bertone Design Studio meeting in Turin. They obviously thought I was crackers at the time however I learnt recently that the US is to enforce electric car makers to create noise for pedestrians.

Good luck with this project anyway, but what I am contacting you about is compressed air energy /cavern batteries, and the potential for them to be used in football stadiums under the field of play.

Have you heard of small scale cavern batteries being used with off-peak wind energy? Do you think there is a market for it?

I am very pleased to find out about this project as it is something very close to my heart. Since you are interested in sustainable living, I have been following several developments very closely….those in prefab housing design and sustainable community projects.

I found this quite uplifting to watch and thought I’d share it with you as I think it has some incredible ideas within it….

I haved followed this blog since its inception and initially found it to be a forum for stimulating debate with people who are clearly passionate about what they believe, regardless of the angle they come from or whether they believe in the “Zero Carbon Britain” vision or not. However, of late, there has been little debate and a lot a mutual backslapping and people trying to piggy back the success that ecotricity and Dale have had. Could I suggest we get back to discussing actual problems and proposing solutions?

Paul, perhaps you could set up a couple of threads entitled “Well done Dale/ecotricity” and “I’ve got this great idea you’ll be interested in…..” for those people who want to congratulate or share their theories/ business opportunities., to leave the other threads uncluttered and focussed on the debate in hand.

I think having a thread entitled “Well done Dale” on Dale’s blog site would seem somewhat self-congratulatory 🙂 Even if that wasn’t the purpose.

But I would love to see a broader, more general, though obviously still Renewable Energy focused, forum.
That way people can still discuss/argue the merits of “greener” ways of life, while having access to the experience of someone like Dale.

Hmmm – well there *is* the old signal-to-noise ratio to consider with any kind of comment system, but there is also the editorial policy of ‘say what you like but be nice to each other’… so even though I am all up for serious problem solving being the main focus of the blog – there’s always going to be some chit chat.

However – I have set up a contact form (and created lots more work for myself and Dale in the process 😉 )

We have also been talking about setting up some kind of forum system where users can create and respond to topics themselves… I am just ironing out the thinking behind that with Dale and others.

I think if there is anywhere suitable for backslapping – then this ‘about me’ section is probably the best place for it.

I reckon I will probably need to run a survey on here to get some valuable feedback from you all – so keep your eyes peeled for that soon…

I may also start closing off older posts for comments after a period of time so that we just need to focus on responding to comments for a handful of posts – rather than for hundreds as time goes by…

Dale,
I hope you don’t mind me bringing this up, but I read this from an FT.com article that ecotricity posted a link to (so it is in the public domain):

“Mr Vince, who employs 164 people, usually pays himself about £70,000 a year from Ecotricity’s main holding company, a modest sum by the standards of successful UK entrepreneurs. Records at Companies House show he has not paid himself dividends in recent years.”

What I found interesting is that you have not paid yourself any dividends recently, only the salary. Is that an ethical decision? My (limited) understanding of these matters is that it is not the most “tax-efficient”, and that paying yourself a combination of salary and dividends would reduce the total amount of income tax and national insurance you pay to hmrc. I suppose you have decided not to take that route?

Dear Dale, i remember Ecotricity from the inaugurial Ben And Jerry Festival. Congrats on your success as a business. You mention Ecotricity is a social enterprise. I understand that organisations such as Fifteen, Divine, Hackney Community Trust, Turning Point all call themselves social enterprises. Can you explain how Ecotricity is one? I appreciate you dont have shareholders, although i was just wondering why you call Ecotricity a social enterprise. Its just out of interest really. Also have you heard of SEC’s Social Enterprise Kitemark- might interest you. In terms of CSR, what percentage of your turnover goes to good causes and NGOs? i couldnt find it on your website.
best wishes
Asi

Hi Dale,
Where were you for the “Future Car Challenge” on Nov 5th?
I was looking to catch some more words with you this year.
I guess you were rather slagged off by the press last year for your “Million pound car” which I guess is a little over the real cost!!
Why not publish an article about the car with some actual cost data as there are many of us who would be interested to read about it.

Cheers mate and keep up the good work with the charge points.
I bent a few motorway service station companies ears a year ago for not having any. Think of all the food we will eat whilst topping up!!

Hi Russ, We bailed out of the rally at the last minute due to some diary conflicts, and we thought since we’d been there the year before it wasn’t so important to go again – though it was fun. Maybe we’ll go along this year. We def weren’t put off by media slagging – we’d never do anything if we let that bother us… 🙂

I’ll try and update on the car soon. We’re preparing for a land speed record attempt now…. 🙂

I’m crazy about Dale Vince. Every time I see him around Stroud I can’t sleep for days. It’s pathetic. His photo is often in the local newspaper and i moon over it and generally drive my two boys crazy.
Happy Valentine’s Day Dale!

“A social enterprise is a business with primarily social objectives whose surpluses are principally reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than being driven by the need to maximise profit for shareholders and owners.”

I often feel depressed by the seemingly insatiable greed of people at the top of the social tree, pity they can’t take a more socially enterprising approach. Indirecty it is the voiceless people at the bottom, – poor education, poor diet, poor housing-, who pay the price for the greed of the fat cats.

To me Mr. Vince financially salvaging a football club in the heart of a low cost housing area, which brings a whole host of benefits across the board to the local community is a very worthwhile social venture, and must be lauded.

The best of luck to Mr. Vince, Forest Green Rovers, Ecotricity, and whatever other businesses or social organisations he is involved in.

I think Forest Green Rovers should wear a forest green kit. I love what Vince has done with the club in terms of getting the players to forgo red meat, surely adding years onto each of their lives (as well as a few months for the fans who eat at the park. As a vegan myself, The New Lawn might be the only stadium where I could eat anything (I live in the US and have never been to the UK, so I’m only guessing based on stadium fare here). I do wish the Rovers were a bigger club so I could follow them from over here. I follow Villa, but FGR would really be my team of choice, especially if they wore dark green jerseys as their home kit.

And I also love the fact that Mr. Vince’s primary business venture is green energy. If I were a millionaire, I would invest in both Ecotricity and Forest Green Rovers and try to help both become more successful. If I lived in the UK, I’m sure I would at least be a customer.

Hi Scott,
A couple of points.
I don’t think one would need to be a millionaire to invest in either FGR or Ecotricity.
Is there not an equivalent green energy supplier in the US that you could subscribe to?
I’m not sure vegans necessarily live longer (look at Steven Jobs) however I think they probably have a better quality of life while a live. Even though I fully support Mr. Vince’s initiative to get rid of meat at FGR, I think he is wrong to say red meat is disgusting. Organically produced free range meat is excellent and very healthy eaten in moderation. But just like coffee and alcohol and sugar, and lots of other potentially good food, people tend to abuse them, and give them a bad name.
A dark green (away kit, I think) for FRG would be cool, if they painted their faces green and brown too, that would be even cooler (joke).
Let’s hope they continue to do well, and maybe one day soon they will get more National news coverage.
Stay well,
M. omnes

I was wondering if you accept guest post for your blog. If you do, I would like to submit a few. I’m a recent college graduate, with an English major, looking to build out my portfolio. I can write on a wide variety of topics and am sure you would be happy with the quality. Please email me back if you are interested. Thank you for your time.

My beef, (good pun) is that everything connected with Ecotrictiy is basically fraudulent. A deep-seated sense of superiority and egoism being the driving force behind the whole enterprise.

For instance, it is significant that the car developed by you, (Dale Vince) for the RAC FCC was a massively powerful sports car representing macho prowess and unrestrained self-indulgence. The Nemesis, costing £800,000 is neither efficient environmentally friendly but it does have sex-appeal. Unfortunately, this is what I believe Ecotricity is all about; pride.

If Ecotricity was the real deal, you would swallow your pride and dedicate your time and money to developing a car which people want and can afford. A car which uses fewer resources and runs on less fuel and produces less CO2 than any other car on the road. This shouldn’t be too difficult for a millionaire.

Gordon Murry produced a winning product for last years RAC FCC but that can also be dismissed as an expensive joke. Costing over £4.2m to develop, (of which the taxpayer paid £2.1m), all the consortia managed to produce was a stupid little car which no-one, apart a few nerds, want. Remember the Reliant Robin?

So here is a challenge for you, Mr Vince: My company, which is motivated by an ideology of thrift, not superstition or self promotion, is entering this year’s RAC FCC with a hybrid saloon. The patented engine, which we have developed over the last three years, converts 70% of the fuel it burns to mechanical energy. We have not taken a penny from the tax-payer and in particular, not the TSB since it only funds companies which don’t represent a threat to the large OEMs.

Against this, Ecotricity, with all its ideology and resources, should be able to beat us; all you need is to ignore the hype and get to work on a vehicle which is consistent with your ideology, ie, modest, environmentally friendly and practical. If you are unable to do this, my accusation of insincerity is proved.

As a past entrant and twice winner of “best private entry” in the Future Car Challenge, I and many others will be very interested to see your car with its extremely efficient engine.

The problem with changing people’s perception of electric/low energy cars is not to bring out boring!!!
My car cost under £20,000 to develop and put on the road using existing technology, some dating back to the 1990’s.
It also came 5th out of 50 cars listed in order of energy usage.
And has been on the road daily for more than three years.
How multiple millions of public money can be spent on odd looking”research projects” for geeks beggars belief.

Having watched Dale’s video about his car being developed, it is easy to see where his money went when using consultants.
At least it was spent in this country.

So Justin, I really hope your car will be built for fun and not another low powered milk float copy.

Justin, I’m surprised by the spite and bitterness in your post here. It has all the hallmarks of coming from a man who feels himself somehow inadequate and needs someone else to ‘pick on’.

The Nemesis was conceived of, as an idea, four years or so ago, before it was possible to buy an electric car for the road (except perhaps the G Whiz). Our aim was to build a car that used the latest technology, looked awesome and performed better than (not just as well as or close to) the equivalent IC car. It’s mission was to impress and through that challenge the prevailing notions of electric cars, and challenge the petrol heads among us.

It’s quite normal, IMO, for technology to be demonstrated on high performance vehicles and subsequently find it’s way to more every day vehicles – it’s a well trodden path.

The building of an everyday car for mass adoption is not something we (ecotricity) are best placed to undertake – nor do we need to, all the major motor manufacturers are entering the game now.

What we were well placed to do was to build an early technology demonstrator, to stimulate debate, open eyes and wins some hearts and minds. To do that we needed a bit of a supercar (in our opinion). So that’s what we built.

I note your post slags us off for building our supercar and also slags off Gordon M for building his everyday car – can anyone win in your eyes…?

I hope your home made car works well for you in the Rally and I hope you grow up somewhat.

I think you are probably right – my inadequacies do make me rather rancorous. I wish simply growing up could cure this defect but it doesn’t seem to.

It’s true; I would like to build a sports car like the Nemesis – I can’t deny it. It’s a nice looking car. My problem is that entrepreneurs very often dissipate their resources simply to gull money from ill-educated politicians who are dazzled by people like you, Gordon Murry and many others. Entrepreneurs should be getting down to making things that people want and are prepared to buy.

I know this goal is very difficult to achieve but people who posses this ability to make things have a moral obligation to make things that people want – not just produce stuff at the public’s expense just because it’s easy money, especially as they know the idea is technically and commercially flawed. I admit, not being able to dazzle people into give me money is probably another reason for feeling bitter and inadequate but most of your readers would agree with what I am saying.

For instance, I could probably get funding to develop a patented fuel tank for commercial vehicles which saved valuable down-time by being able to be filled with fuel in 20 seconds. Oh yes, the funding agencies would be delighted with my beautifully made prototype models and computer generated images but in reality, I know that to put 100 litres into a fuel tank in 20 seconds would require a fuel-pump the size of a shed and and nozzle that no-one could lift.

A stupid idea you may think, but a company is, in fact, being funded to research and develop hybrid car batteries which can be ‘filled’ at a charging-point in in twenty minutes. Oh Yea! – what would the two-megawatt plug-in plug and its cable look like? Right – like a shed and also too big to lift.

My grievance is against Government funding agencies, particularly the TSB. These people give money to totally spurious R&D projects which has the effect of directing SMEs away from producing commercial products and towards damn-fool projects which lead nowhere. Some call it a conspiracy to keep SMEs from competing with the big-boys.

FYI, we are not making a home-made car for the RAC FCC. It’s all in the new engine. Any re-engined car will do.

Hang on a minute. Are we talking about 20 seconds or 20 minutes? Not that fuel pumps and chargers necessarily need to be comparable size anyway, but fully charging a battery in twenty MINUTES shouldn’t be compared to filling a tank in twenty SECONDS.

If my example was ambiguous, I apologise. I was merely trying to emphasize the unworkability of some funded research projects. Fully charging a EV battery in twenty minutes is just as practically impossible as filling a fuel tank in 20 seconds.

Justin,
To fill a 20KWh battery pack in 20 minutes, it would only require a 60kW lead.
At 300v this cable would be required to carry less than 200A which is not too large a cable, especially if it has concentric cores, but arguably not one that the average lady driver would wish to use.
The battery swap station is far more workable if only the manufacturers could agree on a standard cell pack.
Not very likely though is it.
A very compact/efficient generator will work in the short term so as before, I will be an interested observer when your engine is on the road.

Justin, slightly better tempered response from you but still rather naff in places.

I didn’t say I thought you wished to build a car like the Nemesis, nor did I think it.

Politicians are rarely ill educated. And they do not preside over the grant making process.

We have not ‘gulled’ money from the government for our project – that’s perhaps your naffest comment. And the Nemesis did not dissipate our energies, it actually started us on a path, that has led to more. Such as the Electric Highway.

It’s been said before, on here and elsewhere, by others – that we should have spent our time and money on a more everyday car, it’s a reasonable point – usually reasonably made, except in your case where it’s made with spite and malice.

I disagree with it in any event.

I think Gordon Murray did exceptionally well to engineer a new car (the one you sneer at) on the budget he had.

The budget we had, with 4 to 500k from the TSB – was nowhere near enough to engineer a new mass market car – it’s silly to even think that. It was enough to produce a high performance technology demonstrator – which we did.

Reading your posts – I think you’re probably bitter that TSB won’t fund your new engine project, or whatever it is – but look on the bright side – TSB funding would have made you a target for bitter nutters to attack…. 🙂

I must congratulate you for entering and being placed in the RAC FCC. Well done!

I am glad you understand the principle of manufacturing stuff which people actually want, rather than stuff that simply attracts public funding – like wind turbines or micro cars designed for Noddy and Big Ears.

You did well to come 5th last year in your Lotus S1. You picked a low-mass car to electrify and thus benefited from Newton’s First Law. The Lotus, as an EV, is a desirable And marketable car and rightly received ‘Best overall private entry’.

Our aim is to replace the engine of a popular 5-door, (the biggest sector in the auto market) and win by using the least amount of fuel. Our small diesel engine doesn’t have a radiator and runs at 250 degrees C. using high-temp oil as the coolant. The retained heat is converted into electro/mechanical energy.

As with rally driving, the ‘fun’ is in taking an ordinary production car and making it do something extraordinary.

Thanks for the description of your engine. It sounds a very interesting concept and I look forward to seeing it.

Personally though I see the electric drive as being the ideal as electric motors are unbeatable for pushing cars down the road. No clutches, gears or servicing required but loads of starting torque.
The only drawback being the electricity source.

I wonder how economical your engine would be tied to an alternator and running at a pre-set rpm which would normally improve efficiency rather than a constantly varying load/rpm.

Whilst not very happy using an oil burner, in the short to medium term the very high concentration of energy in oil does allow for conventional driving with electric hybrids.

OK, Politicians are not ill-educated but they are ignorant. In my fairly broad experience, politicians, local government officials, film stars, media celebs, sportsmen, bureaucrats, – are pretty ignorant on the whole. Surely you must have noticed that?

It might be hurtful to say so, but the Modus Operandi for most of the young middle-class bods leaving University, is to gull money from the Government. Remember, 80% of the Government’s tax income comes from hourly-paid workers and the companies they work for. Some, like yourself, use their educational and social advantages to create useful businesses, employ people and generally contribute to the economy but on the whole, the young educated middle-class use their talents to get money from the Government in order to do whatever they want to do.

If I’m wrong, answer me this: If a skilled tradesman has to borrow money from a bank to do something worthwhile, like setting up a small manufacturing business, how come the educated classes simply use their skills to get their money from the Government, buckshee? Mr Sciville, writing on this blog, did rather well in the RAC FCC last year and it didn’t cost the taxpayer a penny. That’s because he’s one of the skilled tradesman I’m talking about.

It is merely a matter of opinion whether or not Gordon Murry’s new car is any good. I personally don’t think it has a market and it was only conceived in order to qualify for hefty government support. Maybe some company might come along and buy the rights to make it, in which can, I’ll be shown to be the sneering nutter you suggest. Until then, I think it is fair to criticise the £4.2 million pounds the Project cost.

Certainly, £500k isn’t enough to put a car like yours into production but that wasn’t your brief. Yours was a prototype; a one-off. Half a million pounds is more than enough to produce a prototype. The question is, what was it a prototype of? Or was it, (be honest now!), just something you wanted to do and because you had the right social positioning, you got someone else pay for most of it?

In my own defense, I was steered away from the TSB by several Venture Capitalists. When I showed them my engines, (the VCs that is) they looked at tme and the technology very carefully and decided to invest. If the engines turn out to be duds or un-commercial, I’ll have to pay them back. The Government simply isn’t interested in this end of the market.

Essentially, the TSB, the Research Council and other funding bodies exists to funnel money into industry by the back door in order to side-step the European restrictions regarding subsidies to industry. It is virtually impossible for small businesses to get funding from the Government unless they are collaborating with the established OEMs. To this extent, politicians DO preside over the grant-making process.

What about offering to build farmers new open sided barns
that are in reality a solar roof on stilts / agricultural buildings avoid planning permission in most cases.Ideally the panels
would form the roof rather than tiles etc to bring down costs.

What a good idea. Problem is; it’s too good. Farmers, being subsidised by taxpayers, pick up their pay-cheques from DEFRA without even having to farm all their land, so why would they bother? They won’t even keep their own buildings or hedgerows in decent order unless they get a subsidy. Ever seen the state of most farms?

What’s the problem? How did you get to be so cynical? I know many hard working farmers, open to new ideas and initiatives, and definitely living on nobodies labours or subsidies but their own. Maybe you should do abit of ‘woofing’ or something, and see how hard some farmers work. You obviously have a bit of time on your hands or you wouldn’t have the time or inclination to write such long entries.

As to myself i’m your average wanker with my own problems (identity on this blog!), but I still think it’s a good life, and I’m full of admiration for a lot of humanity.

Have you any plans to do anything on the Green Deal in Oct? I’ve just started a business due to being made redundant in Dec. Trying to make the company as ethical as I can and trying to give things away for free as much as I can. Would love to do some work for you in the future if you go into Green Deal.

And mate your not a sell out, you are just trying to do green & good things on a bigger scale and succeeding big time…

Hi Alan, We’re not currently planning to get involved in the Green deal. We have some significant reservations about the scheme and also as currently proposed it will be a considerable burden for small suppliers.

The idea is good, in principle – but it’s fraught with problems in the execution.

Good luck with the new venture, green stuff has never been exactly easy, and that’s never been more true than under this government.

Thanks for those words of support at the end of your post, very much appreciated.

Dale,
I have been reading a bit about you of late, and I have also been building some new propositions at work – Suddenly the two things collided. We supply to the prestige automotive industry and I was thinking, ‘could a new charitable carbon-offset network or person help us differentiate our products at point of sale – and do some good as a bonus.’
I would be very interested in discussing it further
Mark Tavner

Hi Dale. Im a University student from Ireland studying a Level 8 BSc in Environmental Science. I have also been a Forest Green Rovers fan for 8 years. I think its incredible to be having such a positive effect on the environmental impact of the football club, especially when my two main interests are football/fgrfc and the study,development and monitoring of cleaner renewable resources. Im excited to see where this approach takes the club in the long term and would one day dream to work on such a project or with such an ambitious company

Good day! This is kind of off topic but I need some advice from an established blog.
Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty fast. I’m thinking about creating my own but
I’m not sure where to start. Do you have any points or suggestions? Cheers

Firstly, I must say what an effort you have given to help provide homeowners with renewable electricity, standing up to critics and providing an alternative view from which people see energy consumption. I to look forward to your image of the next industrial revolution.

Secondly, I am currently working on a renewable energy newsletter for the county of Dorset. We have a target audience of 12-25 year old’s and hope to use the publication as a portal to invigorate interest within the younger generation. It is a collaboration between the following to voluntary sites:

I was thinking about including a page on yourself, and Ecotricty, to show the work you have done on a local and national scale. I think it would provide a good interest link between the younger generation and renewable energy, especially your work with forest green rovers – thus educating and providing awareness of the energy problems we currently face.

Would you be interested in allowing me to write a small article about the above, and maybe including a couple of sentences from yourself to use as quotes?

Fossil fuels, especially oil used to power farming, have enabled the world population to triple in the last seventy years.
This could be a fatal mistake as fossil fuels are finite and their use results in increased greenhouse gas emissions. The resulting climate change is itself affecting food production.
As a farmer from England, I am convinced that when oil inevitably becomes scarce through depletion or geopolitical events, our farming system will fail, causing chaos and starvation.
I have posted a video on youtube explaining the problem and suggesting a way to power farming using electricity generated by renewable methods or even nuclear power.
The cost of energy needed to power farming would also be reduced by about 50%.
This subject desperately needs debate.
I believe ecotricity have an interest in these problems and have plans for an electric tractor. Maybe we could work together.
See http://www.youtube.com/amptrac .

Who needs a car, any car, fast or slow, when they can run 13 miles?!
Congratulations to Mr.Vince on completion of the Stroud half marathon. He’s a wonderful role model for the people of Stroud, and indeed people everywhere.
Long live Dale Vince!
Best Wishes,

Can anyone explain to me the point of hydrogen fuel cells, and should we be trying to produce fuel cells running on biogas instead?

I’ve studied chemistry and I understand that the only two ways to produce hydrogen on an industrial scale are either:
[a] electrolysis of water. Passing an electric current through water and collecting the bubbles of hydrogen that are produced.
Or
[b] steam reformation of methane. Reacting together steam and methane over a nickel catalyst which produces hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Instead of producing hydrogen via electrolysis why not just use the electricity to charge a battery?

Instead of using natural or biogas to generate hydrogen to power a fuel cell why not just use a fuel cell designed to run on biogas?

I’ve collected quite a few papers discussing the development of fuel cells that run on natural gas and or biogas and I don’t understand why people want to start using hydrogen as a fuel. We’d have to build entirely new infrastructure for a hydrogen powered society; we’ve already got one for natural gas which would work just as well for biogas.

I think will have to up-date your chemistry in a year or so. My colleagues and I have just completed a study in Aerosonics having developed a new machine which is based on four natural actions, and the only item we use for the breaking of solids is air, No Ball Mills, or shredders, no grinders or mechanical action, in fact there is only one moving part, the shaft. We started studying the tornado which can create a vortex of up to 1,980 Mph. We have created a machine which can produce a number of vorticies in a vortex with wind speeds in excess of 7,000Mph. When introducing solids it is not just kinetic energy we produce but the molecules of water are separated by breaking the bonds between Hydrogen and oxygen. We know how to make desalinated water without heat. We can even use sea water to run a gas generator! It is still in its early stages, but the machine is already has patents pending. It is just entering the commercialization stages.

Hi Derek, hope your machine works and I’m pleased to hear that it will run with sea water; there’s not enough fresh water on this planet for both life and hydrogen production. What happens to the salts when you put sea water through your device?

Now we need someone to sort out a practical, cheap and easy to mass produce form of hydrogen storage.
There’s a group at university of Birmingham who are trying to power a plane using a fuel cell, but due to the problem of hydrogen storage its fuelled on propane and the cell has an integral catalyst to reform the propane into hydrogen.

If you want a quick look at a commercially produced fuel cell designed to run on natural or biogas visit [www.cerespower.com].
This is a unit designed for domestic microgeneration of both electricity and heat.

I ran a Piper light aircraft on calor gas in 1976.
It worked fine.
Why bother with hydrogen?
My company at the time and another I was involved with in Norfolk UK, were specialists in developing alternate fuels for internal combustion engine use.
I do not mean just dual fuel conversions either.
I mean proper engine development that resulted in a British Touring Car that was more powerful and faster on LPG than the other cars on petrol and was swiftly banned by the FIA.
A csr with the engine converted solely for LPG can give a far superior performance compared to a dual fuel conversion which is a compromise with to low a compression ratio for gas and the wrong ignition and fueling.
Hydrogen will never be a suitable fuel for road vehicles. It is impossible to establish a workable infra structure for distribution of the frozen product. Far to dangerous.
In anycase electric vehicles do not need fuel delivered to refueling sites. This fact on its own i.e using electric behicles, does away with the liquid fuel distribution network which is 50 percent of the fuel used as complete waste. Think on that.
NO Hydrogen is a RED HERRING.
Fuel cells were developed for use in space where it makes sense to use hydrogen because there is lots on the ship. NASA spent billions on the technology for this purpose.
It is simply the oil and gas producers using this technology to con you all into believing hydrogen is some kind of miracle fuel. It is solely to allow them to keep us wallowing in the fossil fuel trough of corporate profits.
Electric vehicles are not the complete answer to our future energy needs but they are the only way for future ‘clean’ progress.

Affirming you are well! Sending positive vibrations. I was speaking very enthusiastically with a friend about a long life dream I have been wanting to manifest. They had heard you on the radio and suggested I contact you. So here I am.

Please go onto the shanti-chi website. Watch the Video Vision. Affirming you are inspired by this beautiful project I request you then endorse of spiritual benefit to many people. Encourage at least one other to do the same. I would like to speak further with you with regard this ancestral voice. I need support and guidance from someone with your wisdom and courage. May the ancestors smile on you – http://www.shanti-chi.com/#!__story-trail-blazer

I truly love your site.. Great colors & theme.
Did you make this website yourself? Please reply back as I’m hoping to create my own site and would love to find out where you got this from or exactly what the theme is named. Kudos!

Greetings Law of Attraction
I did put the site together myself. It’s just a copy and paste affair. Did you have a chance to listen to the video vision? Please support this idea at this basic level and we can work from there. click the link – http://www.shanti-chi.com/#!__story-trail-blazer – and get out of the box and into the vision.

I too watched the planning program on TV. Once I saw the Lord of Berkeley Castle proclaiming from his fortess in his condescending way that his ancestors hadn’t lost a ‘battle’ since 11th century I knew Mr. Vince’s case was a lost cause.
If the Berkeley Lord and all the other wealthy people featured on the program genuinely cared about the environment they would be supporting the wind turbines.
Mr. Vince handled his rejection nobly and even though I don’t hold out much hope, I would dearly love if one day he could manage to topple the smug Lord’s thousand year record and get those turbines erected!

As someone who’s home would have been blighted by Vince Dale’s industrial development of a subsidy farm in the Berekely Vale, naturally I’m pleased that the planning inspector saw sense.

However, the real reason I am pleased is that finally we seem to have some limited protection for our landscape as well as finally some clarity about how wasteful these subsidy farm schemes are. There is little understanding amongst both the general public or those keen supporters (who invariably live out of sight or hearing of these industrial developments) of how the electricity industry works. For each MW of capacity that is provided by a subsidy farm, these has to be a MW of reliable generation capacity as a spinning reserve – in other words, another power station (usually fossil fuel) is sat working ready for when (not if) the wind stops blowing. Which of course reduces any claimed CO2 saving dramatically.

We have heard so much in the media about how the small amount of CO2 emitted by mankind is the greatest threat to the planet and yet we choose to ignore the reality that the net impact of these subsidy farms is marginal when they are working, and if the CO2 emitted during construction and decommissioning is included then the effect is so small as to be pointless. If it was genuinely believed that CO2 is the greatest threat, then the only currently available technology that can provide electricity on the scale needed is nuclear – but that has it’s own problems. However, if CO2 was really the worst thing ever, then surely nuclear must be less bad?

The current situation is that we see Germany going back into coal having experimented with wind and the US discovering the benefits of cheap and secure gas via fracking. Also, don’t forget the blunt truth is that new coal power stations coming on line this year alone in India and China will emit more CO2 than the whole of the UK in an entire year – which makes our attempts to destroy our countryside and our industry with subsidy farms and carbon taxes even more daft.

So why are we ruining our economy and our landscape by making a few people very wealthy? I honestly don’t know – but if you can get on Mr Dale’s subsidy train and your conscience allows you to make money from such a dodgy scheme – good luck…

Thank-you for taking the time to write this, but it makes depressing reading.

If I climb a hill near my house I can see a wind turbine. I don’t find it a blot on the landscape, I find it a reassuring sight, someone cares about the environment.

Your arguement about China and India and their future huge CO2 emissions doesn’t wash with me. It reminds me of a naughty primary school kid who points the finger at someone else who is behaving worse than him, as if that somehow justifies his own bad behavior.

Nobody has ever said that renewable energy will meet all the countries energy needs, but it does have an important place in an integrated energy package. For me wind power is to energy as the bicycle is to transport. Nobody would ever argue that the bicycle could meet the countries transport needs but it is very useful in meeting a lot of peoples needs, and yes they need back-up when it doesn’t work.

Complaining about the subsidies the alternative energy section gets is also misguided. There are many other sections of society that get way more subsidies, and put the money to much less beneficial use.To suggest the alternative energy sector is ruining our economy is ludicrous. What ruins our economy is a lot more complex than that, but it’s not helped by the unequal distribution of wealth and the insatiably greed of sections of our consumer society.

Did it ever cross your mind that not everyone is motivated by huge profit and some people ie. many people in the alternative energy section are motivated by doing something they really believe in.

You seem to have missed the fact that these subsidy farms make no difference to the amount of CO2 emitted once the construction, decommissioning and need for spinning reserve is taken into account. In consumer terms they are just a way of transferring money from the energy poor to the energy rich and for business a massive incentive to export jobs to countries who haven’t fallen for this particular snake oil salesman.

If CO2 was the problem some people believe, then the only sensible solution is to find a way of generating enough electricity that does not emit CO2 – sadly, with our current technology that is nuclear.

Destroying our industrial capacity by forcing UK companies to close whilst companies in other counties emit more CO2 will have no net impact on CO2 emitted on the planet – which really ought to concern you. To continue your playground analogy, we will have the comfort of being able to say that global warming was due to a big boy who ran away, but the net impact will be zero. So, to be absolutely clear, it won’t change the outcome, but at least you will able to say that your lifestyle choices caused CO2 to be emitted in another country.

As for people being not being motivated by huge profit, I’m certainly in that category and so are a lot of people in the renewable area. But industrial subsidy farming is a different matter – when I see a company owned by one person who has amassed a net worth of £50m by exploiting subsidies and causing a net disbenefit to both the environment and the economy based on dodgy maths and suspect claims then I am somewhat suspicious of the supposed public good.

If you are a believer in global warming then by all means keep up the good work of exporting CO2 production – it won’t make any difference but if you close one eye and squint it might look better for a while.

I can’t help feeling for one reason or another you have a personal grudge against Mr. Vince. I have never met the man in my life but I admire him for the very reason that bothers you. He keeps sole ownership of something he’s passionate about and started from scratch, in my book if he ever sells out to a multinational or indeed lets other people who are less passionate about renewable energy and more motivated by huge profit, that’s the day we should all get worried.

I’m afraid you and I will just have to agree to disagree on our views of alternative energy. However I won’t be doing any squinting, I’m looking to the future with my eyes wide open and hopefully I’ll see lots of wind turbines there.

Having read Nick and Mary’s cross chat, I am reminded of the continual anti EV bias from virtually all journalists.
Removing the CO2 argument from the equation renewable energy is just that, renewable and causes very little harm. Compare that to virtually any other form of power generation.
I want my kids to grow up in an environment where my generation is not being cursed for using up the worlds resources.
With our power generation moving over to gas, wind and solar can take the strain during the day and the fast response gas powered generators can be utilised when required.
Getting back to EV’s, they are the only way to go as electricity never runs out! We can make it for ever, and we can make it ourselves.

Renewable energy is the only way forward. We have to push to make it fact. If we don’t, the planet could be damaged beyond all repair.It’s not just our home it’s home to lots of living things and we are doing a good job of taking it’s resources for profit and not caring, its a case of profit now worry later. Later is now though!

My son is disabled and drives his electric wheelchair using head switches. I’ve often thought it would be cool and fun if his chair could be charged by wind or solar panels (I suppose in some ways it already is because we use ecotricity) however the general public don’t know that and if he was going around in a visibly wind powered chair it might be good advertisement for ecotricity, but maybe not. Maybe it would just give your critics an opportunity to mock you. Still a wind powered wheel-chair would be really cool for the disabled community.
Any body at your end any thoughts on it?

I reckon it wouldn’t take much to power your son’s wheelchair with renewables – the real challenge is to make electric versions of fossil fuel based internal combustion engines (like electric cars and tractors), so if you’d like some pointers to charge your son’s current wheelchair with solar (wind would be trickier) – let me know…

You are right though – you’re already powering it by wind if you’re a customer 🙂 I will definitely send you some stickers and other goodies in the post so you can let people know where your power comes from…

Thanks for the reply and for the stickers and stuff, which I’ll put in appropriate places.

I’m not very technically minded so I’m not really sure what that means ie. making electric versions of fossil based fuel internal combustion engines. Basically my son has a very heavy battery on the bottom of his chair that has to be charged regularly. If we put solar panels on the back of his chair could they be connected to his present battery to charge it or would he need to change the battery to a specially adapted one to make this possible? The battery is very expensive so having to change it wouldn’t be a viable option at the moment.

What I was clumsily trying to say was that as your son’s wheelchair is already electrically powered – you’re well on your way to being able to power it by renewables (unlike cars, tractors, and other normally fossil fuelled transport solutions).

I’m no expert at this kind of thing and we don’t do this kind of installation ourselves as a company but there are plenty of Microgeneration Certification Scheme authorised suppliers in the Stroud area that you can check out – you may spot some familiar names on here: http://tinyurl.com/stroudmcs

I think that you’d probably need to install some solar panels at a fixed location (roof of your house/garage/shed) rather than on the wheelchair itself so that you can generate enough to charge the normal battery using the normal charger. This may not be the most efficient way to do it, but would be the simplest I think.

I’d recommend having a chat with one or two of the local MCS certified suppliers from the link I posted above to discuss your requirements and options. You might even be able to save/make some money via the FiTs scheme: https://www.gov.uk/feed-in-tariffs/overview

The Electric Vehicle Association of Vietnam (www.evavietnam.org) has established a Special Interest Group (SIG) tasked with lobbying the Vietnamese Government to abolish the present 78% Import Duty on Electric Vehicles & Hybrids. This SIG has the support of a growing number of national & international Climate Change Organizations as well as numerous Electric Vehicle Manufacturers.

As an Electric Vehicle manufacturer, who may one day look towards the potentially 100 million strong EV Market of Vietnam, we would like to invite you to lend your support to this Special Interest Group, by joining the group as an International Supporter. We hope to gain the support of more than 100 international EV manufacturers, which will add enormous international pressure onto the government to make changes quickly.

Vietnam is expected to be one of the countries which is going to be most affected by Climate Change, according to the United Nations, and as such is in line to receive hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign aid for climate change mitigation & adaptation projects over the next few years. However by placing one of the highest import duties in the world on electric vehicles, when they have no local Electric Vehicle manufacturing industry to protect, the international aid community surely must be wondering why they are preparing to spend billions to help a country which does not appear to be committed to lowering its Green House Gas Emissions. By quickly abolishing this misconceived duty, the Vietnamese government will be clearly demonstrating to the world its commitment to lowering Green House Gas Emissions in the country.

A special category of EVA Vietnam Membership has been established ( Special Member) to cater to International EV Manufacturers (with no office in Vietnam) who would like to support this SIG, but may not want to join as a Corporate Member.

As a Special Member, (USD25) your logo, (linked to your Web Site) will be placed on our EVA Vietnam web site home page, listed as a Special Member. As a Member of the Special Interest Group, you will also receive fortnightly updates on its progress, outcomes of meetings, and be invited to submit (via email) any background information or data which might be useful in the preparation of the Petition to Government. You will also receive a copy of the ‘Petition to Government’ which is expected to be finalized by November 2013, for comments, before it is submitted to the appropriate Vietnamese Government Ministries for consideration.

Those international companies which would like to become Corporate Members (USD125) will be given access to the entire suite of EVA Vietnam Corporate Services which includes our team of enthusiastic workers here in Vietnam helping you to identify potential importers & distribution channels for your EV products in Vietnam. And it should be noted that if we are successful in abolishing this duty the purchase price of your EV products will be half what they presently are today. Thus making EVs a very affordable transport option for Vietnamese.

Furthermore if the Vietnamese Government insists on a limited number of EV manufacturers for a duty free trial period of 3-5 years, we will ensure all EVA Vietnam members are included in the trial.

I look forward to your support. And should you see benefit for your company & EV products by joining our Association & Special Interest Group, please simply reply to this email and we will email you back a “Membership Application Form”

I signed up to ecotricity some years ago feeling very pleased about it. I still do, except that I have come to realise wind and solar may not be the best way to go green in energy production. It’s a possible way and will make its contribution but it’s too slow to check the likely effects of global warming, and it requires an enormous amount of work.

It seems almost certain that the proposal to produce liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs) is a much better way to go (see for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMs8P97z7fk and the impressive lectures under the ‘Media’ Category link in http://flibe-energy.com/ ). I thought you might have the funds and the interest in starting a company to produce a prototype LFTR which could then be manufactured rapidly. The advantages of LFTRs over conventional (uranium) reactors are remarkable and LFTRs can be quite small units (e.g. the size of a car producing 30 megawatts!). I am sure you would find scientists/engineers interested in working on this. The potential is huge.

Basically they are developing energy storage systems which use compressed air. They have some big backers and I believe the idea is simple and scale-able. I’d strongly suggest having a lot if you haven’t already, as they overcome the main weakness in wind power. (You can also sell your electricity at the best rate, so everyone’s a winner..)

Hi Dale, I heard you chatting on The Bottom Line and just switched to Ecotricity. Why? Well I guess that most people care about the planet but most are also too lazy to do anything about it. You are offering an option that doesn’t even need to cost more money so really, it’s a no brainer. I wish you and your team all the best and I’m delighted to be on board just sorry I only recently heard about Ecotricity.

Hi Dale
I’m very interested on how you manage to start up your own company. I’m very keen on green energy and hope that everyone becomes greener including recycling more of items we use daily.
Was it very hard to get the banks to invest in green energy and convince local government to support you? Are there organisations / banks / government bodies that we support new green energy companies?
When you started your company are there things you wish you haven’t done or done, are there organisations / government bodies that could help you at the beginning which you found too late?
You must be a very busy person and I’m very excited about green energy and hope you can spare some of time to reply.
Thank You & Kind Regards
Paul

I have just been reading what you have said about our energy systems at present.

I feel as long as there is oil and gas we have a problem. A lot of MPs are tied to energy companies. To me this is not right, a MPs job should be a full time job and no other jobs aloud as how can you stay impartial when you are linked to something else, what ever it may me.

This is probably not the right forum, but I was trying to find somewhere to offer my support regarding the recent divorce issue (please remove if you wish). I think it is absolutely disgraceful that this is legally allowed to occur in our justice system. I have listened to your Radio 4 interview and completely agree on fighting this based upon the pure principle of it. Its just sheer greed and jealously. Keep up the hard work with fighting this and hopefully common sense will prevail.

Every attempt to make contact with the owner of the firm that “rescued” Evance has failed, and so in desparation I try here. With all your domestic problems, are you letting ecotricity slide and take evance with it. Nobody seems to offer customer sevice to the real “green” of the countryside who are trying to do the right thing, as opposed to just talking about it.

It does seem a bit counter productive/against the ethos of Ecotricity to use customers money to donate to the Labour Party (who are pro Fracking, pro austerity & lack support for renewables/reducing climate change) and your proposal to build a football stadium on green-fields in Gloucestershire?! Surely Ecotricity’s funds should be invested in supporting communities to install renewable energy for local community production and consumption and help to improve the electric highways charging network which is inadequate, unreliable and under supported. Even helping to improve the national grid so there is more capacity for renewable energy. Perhaps its time for Ecotricity to become a community owned company for the benefit of people and planet and not profit. Great what you started but would be better if it was for the benefit of the people and planet – for the community by the community.

Hi Cara, I’m not sure if you are a resident of Britain (tongue in cheek) with comments like these – have you seen what the Tories have done in their first few weeks in power?

The shutting down of the renewables industry, not just wind but now solar. The imposition of fracking over the heads of local people (where now Localism?) and the subverting of planning regulations and environmental protections to make it happen. The massive contradiction between the treatment of renewable energy sources and fracking and nuclear – both financially and in planning terms. Let’s not overlook the further cuts to benefits, the crazy European referendum and general immigration frenzy, that’s now impacting our young people on in work benefits. It’s a big list and there’s several more years to come.

Your gripe, if I may call it that, appears to be that we should not have given money to the Labour party to try and prevent this. You overlook that we also gave money to the Lib Dems and to the Greens – where we thought they could make a difference too. We funded a broad left wing ‘church’.

To say Labour is pro fracking is clearly not correct, even to say it ‘was’ under Ed M is incorrect – simple exaggeration. Same with austerity.

But at the root of all this is a question of pragmatism. Do you think that the Green party could have won the election if we had given them our sole support? That’s how this comes across. I’m aware that you are a green councillor.

I get the whole vote with your heart not your head thing – and I’ve no problem with people saying and doing that.

But look at the facts – one million people voted Green – we got one green MP.

Eight million people voted UKIP – we got one UKIP MP (mercifully). That’s how crazy our electoral system is.

You can bury your head in the sand on this if you wish – but only Labour had any chance of preventing what we now have – a totally disastrous Tory government.

Your comments about our Electric Highway initiative are way wide of the mark – I think you give us very little credit for what we’ve built, that may also be because of your personal involvement in this space.

If you look at the facts and figures, the EH is Europe’s most comprehensive and successful fast change network – bar none. We now cover almost the entire motorway network, and are moving onto key A roads. We enable almost 1.5 million miles of emission free driving every month, and growing very fast. All free to use. Yes there have been hardware problems, it’s early day technology, it’s to be expected. We’ve put big efforts into resolving those with the manufacturer of the equipment and that work is all but complete now. Again, check the facts and figures and we have the most reliable fast change network in Europe.

And with 20,000 members, it’s not ‘under supported’ by either us or its users.

Your post continues it’s decline into the ridiculous with the suggestion we should ‘help the National Grid make more capacity for renewable energy’. I think you over estimate what we are capable of – funnily enough. But what do you even mean here?

You end nicely with the idea that we should be community owned.

In what way would that increase our ability to do the things we do? I suspect it would be the opposite.

Hi Dale, Until seeing your BBC vt about FRG and Moneyballl I had never heard of you. Having once lived locally I know your Nympsfield windmill better! But intrigued by your vt piece I googled you and am far more wiser BUT given your UK roots etc etc how come you have an American accent and are more au fait with baseball than football? Just curious!!

I think that’s a bit harsh Mary, I hadn’t heard of Dale until I took a 7 day test drive in a Nissan Leaf and phoned Ecotricity to find out who was behind the FREE power points that gift people 24kwh of charge in about 40 minutes, and see if they also wanted to sponsor me so I can put 10+ canvassers out in city centres promoting a comprehensive social and economic solution for mankind. There is a lot to it apart from green energy, have YOU heard of Prof Tim Jackson? His book Prosperity without Growth available for free download from ipu.org covers another important facet of my ideology, albeit using 1000 words where 50 would do, and 6+ years on he has obtained an ESRC grant for his CUSP project. Crucial to solving world problems is inclusion. It is a catch22 though, neither Dale nor Tim contactable directly by me, unable to be intellectually inclusive and work together with me to achieve synergies. Only Google search knows me ‘nick ourvote’

I’ve just seen Dale Vince on ‘Points West’. I hate to get personal, but I’ve got a thing about teeth, are they his own? If they are Wonderful. I can’t think of a better advertisement for veganism. Go Forest Green Rovers!

Hi Dale, Recently had the pleasure of being banjaxed by a solicitor, customer services rep and a collection company whom have been instructed by ecotricity.
I work away from home so prefer email so didn’t receive empty handed apologies and threats made by solicitor or court papers even though had asked for emails.
I had a payment plan solicitor made threat’s and demands and said I didn’t or they wouldn’t have been instructed.
Turns out I did have a payment plan with a third party but I cancelled it as solicitor told me that it didn’t exist.
Customer services came clean sand found payment arrangement apologised and verbally said no further action would be taken by solicitor.
Solicitor wrote and said agree to xyz and we will stay action.
I carried on making payments through third party actually increased amounts paid.
Not good enough for customer service can you set up another arrangement.
Solicitor then writes can you set up another arrangement or we continue action we had agreed to stop originally as we had acted prematurely.
Anyhow six months later half a rainforest and a few barrels of oil on my doorstep solicitor has applied another £600 on my bill and obtained a ccj against me on a bill I allready had an arrangement in place for.

Surreal. Not one for giving solicitors more money so will take out a loan on my car to pay the ccj and have it removed before a month passed. Let’s hope I don’t turn to crime to pay off the loans. I wont swear but this strikes me as unethical,unreasonable and cruel and brutally unsustainable. Ecotricity Account: 4011 3772

Hi Dale,
my name is Jacobo Peralba and I live in Spain. I’m no very ecofriendly but I always wanted to be and I would like to do something, and I’ve been reading about you. I am a PR freelance, which means I can travel. I would like to offer you my know-how in PR and Communicactions, as well as social media. If you think we can work something out, I would love o move to Nailsworth with my girldfriend (she is a teacher) and my dog and help you, and try to play for Forest Green Rovers, why not?
Thank You very much for your time and let me know if you can think in something we can work togheter.
Kind regards, Jacob

You rock! I’m a vegan hippy too, and I’m also mad about preserving our amazing Planet. I’m setting up a vegan business to bring more change to the world, and would love you to be involved. Can we meet somewhere in a vegan resto? I live in Kent, but I’m happy to travel.

Zero Carbonista

This blog is about answers to the big questions - how will we keep the lights on, what kind of cars will we drive (will we drive?) and how will we feed ourselves - in a post oil world, and a world where we can't afford to keep burning things and throwing things away. Energy, Transport and Food are the three big issues.